Making the city livable, MN Ashish Ganju
The national capital city of Delhi that we inhabit today is the ninth city in this location. The eight earlier cities, going back in time to a period before recorded history, were grand capitals of several empires, and all of these have perished much earlier than anticipated by the rulers who established them.
The Delhi of today is also under threat of collapse, on several accounts:
- Whereas the population of Delhi is growing a little over the national average, its slum population is growing at twice the rate of growth of the city population as a whole; already a majority of the city’s population is living in slums and unauthorised developments.
- Although the planned expenditure by the State for provision of urban services and infrastructure is far greater for Delhi than for other cities in India, Delhi faces a chronic shortage of water supply, electric power supply, sewage and solid waste disposal, public transport, as well as housing and attendant social and institutional/commercial facilities.
- In spite of the fact that Delhi was the first city in the country to make a comprehensive Master Plan for urban development more than four decades ago, and set up a special urban development authority for regulation and control of the master plan, there has been rampant unauthorised development in the city; and today the whole nation is witnessing the extraordinary spectacle of not only the High Court of Delhi, but also the Supreme Court of India, having to pass orders for demolition and sealing of illegal commercial developments throughout the city, leading to public (and sometimes violent) protests by not only the trader community but also elected political representatives from the opposition as well as the ruling party.